DFO’s Austexx is set to sell four of its nine DFO shopping malls to CFS Retail Property Trust as CFS seeks to raise $500 million in capital to complete the transaction, according to reports from people close to the matter in Bloomberg.
DFO owners Austexx, run by David Goldberger and David Wieland is set to split up the retail property group and sell off a number of DFO malls in order to service the $1 billion owed to NAB, St George, Bank of Scotland International and Suncorp-Metway, made up of $550 million for the South Wharf DFO development and $450 million in other debts.
CFS Retail is expected to finalise the capital raising today according to Bloomberg, with property retail groups Lend Lease and Colonial First State objecting to purchasing DFO’s entire operations previously for a quoted $1.5 billion due to the $1 billion in liabilities they would need to service when buying it as a going concern.
DFO is expected to sell four of its shopping malls. including DFOs at South Wharf, Moorabbin and Essendon in Victoria in addition to DFO Homebush in Sydney’s west, worth a reported $600 million according to reports in the Australian Financial Review yesterday.
Last month DFO’s David Goldberger and David Wieland and NAB, St George, Bank of Scotland International and Suncorp-Metway came to terms on an agreement to roll over debt on the South Wharf DFO development in order to avoid a fire sale of the underdeveloped project and not realise its true value.
